This invention, relates in general, to optoelectronic devices and, more particularly, to molded waveguides.
As the amount of information, as well as the speed of transferring information between electronic components increases, optoelectronic techniques or methods used for this transfer become more important. For example, in some high speed computers, optoelectronic techniques are used for clock distribution, thereby enabling standard electronic components to be timed correctly so as to manage the transfer of information more efficiently. However, at present, use of optoelectronic techniques has several major drawbacks or problems, such as being complex, inefficient, costly, and generally not suitable for high volume manufacturing. Thus, as the amount of information and the speed at which this information needs to be transferred, a need for a structure and a fabrication method that allows for efficient and cost effective manufacturing, as well as use of optoelectronic methods and optoelectronic devices will be required.
Conventionally, waveguides are manufactured by a combination of photolithographic and etching processes. For example, a conventional waveguide is fabricated by applying a suitable optical material onto an interconnect substrate, such as a printed board. A photoresist material is then applied onto the optical material and subsequently patterned by a photolithographic process. The pattern defined by the photolithographic process is subsequently transferred into the optical material by an etching process that removes exposed portions that are not covered by the photoresist material. The circuit board with the etched pattern is subsequently cleaned, which removes the residual photoresist material and leaves a resultant optical layer in place on the circuit board. As described above, conventional fabrication of optical layers used for waveguides using this sequence of events is not only complicated and expensive, but also does not lend themselves to high volume manufacturing.
It can be readily seen that conventional methods for manufacturing waveguides have severe limitations. Also, it is evident that conventional processes that are used to fabricate waveguides are not only complex and expensive but also not amenable to high volume manufacturing. Therefore, a method and a structure that lends itself for making waveguides and integrating these waveguides into a circuit board is highly desirable.